I’ve been having a whole lot of fun playing with my Iphone recently. One of my favorite apps, Hipstamatic, has revamped their Tintype camera and boy is this girl over here in love.

Sometimes a photography style just fits your mood to a tee. That is how I feel about this app. Maybe there is a part of me that wishes we could all go back to a simpler time say 100 years ago. Before the internet, and Instagram, and my Facebook feed. Lord, before Twitter. Maybe I love that the images always come up black and white and kinda blurry and wonky and that’s how I am seeing the world presently it seems. Whatever it is exactly, I cannot say. I have not ever produced a real Tintype or Daguerreotype. I would love to participate in a workshop or class and learn the process. Or have a portrait created employing the process. I’d jump in my Tardis in hot second to some 1880’a carnival and assist the heck out of the sweet little tintype photographer with the curly moustache.  Until then however, I will keep taking my Iphone out of my pocket and opening up my Tintype app. It looks like a little wooden camera and one of my favorite things about this app is the sound it makes when you click the shutter. I’m not going to explain how it sounds…you just have to go and download the app.

This app costs $0.99 on the app store. If you have Hipstamatic already, this is not an added lens/film combo. This is a separate app. When you open up the app, you will have the option to shoot right away, or you can turn the camera front facing. Once you take your picture, you can then play around with your depth of field, plate grain,eye intensity, frame, and color. This app allows for black and white, a very antiquated color, and sepia. I pretty much always just stick with black and white. You will notice that the camera tends to really focus on the eyes when making a portrait. It can be a little too intense, but there is the option to dial it down. If you post to Instagram a lot, you can also play with the brightness in Instagram if the image is still feeling too bright for you. I really like this app in all kinds of lighting situations. There is no wrong light for this camera. I love when an image is dark and it gives the appearance of the wet plate emulsion in an intensified way. I highly recommend this for portraits, and self portraits. I’ve pretty much been taking Tin portraits of all of my family and friends.

When I first found this app, there was a half of a second that I thought maybe this was stupid because it’s not the real thing. But then I thought : How cool is it that we get the chance to play and emulate this photographic process albeit an extremely simplified and guesswork removed version? I’m embracing the Fun of this camera. Plan on seeing lots more of these faux Tins as I move through my world. Please follow me on Instagram here .

If you decide to try out this app, feel free to tag me with some of your images because I would love to see them!!

Below are some favorites I’ve captured with this app.

Make sure you tell me what you think of this app below if you’ve tried it, or have it, or love it, or if you want to try it! And someone else tell me what you think of that shutter sound!

Until next time!

Audrey